Seasons
by creampurin
Summary: The sweet farmer from Konohana visits the cafe in Bluebell only to be kidnapped. Cam, the only witness to the crime, is not quite sure how to handle this. Until his good ol' buddy Ash proposes they get the girl back by force. Cam's POV and LillianX?
1. Snow

It was late winter when she came to Bluebell, covered in frost and the remains of snow drifts and looking rather pink as she shuffled through the door of the cafe. Howard fussed over her, telling her she'd catch pneumonia walking all the way from Konohana which led me to believe that I had only missed the first visit she'd given the cafe. Apparently, I was to learn later, that I had been absent more than I thought.

Laney brought out some tea and spice cake settling in front of the stove with the girl who happened to be a good bit smaller than even petite Laney once the fifty layers of wrappings and jackets had been peeled away to reveal Konohana's winter kimono for ceremonies which consisted of about four layers of finely spun silk. The color was grey, and a crane could be seen embroidered into the edges.

"Surely she doesn't farm in _that_?" I muttered earning a glare from Laney and a smack on the head from her father who happened to be passing by at the moment and acted as though he'd done nothing wrong at all going so far as to ignore the scowl I sent his direction as he managed to fuss even more over the strange tiny girl before the stove.

I found myself grumbling all alone as I munched on some cookies violently watching how they doted. I'd heard about her from Ash before. She was the farmer who'd been fought over by the mayors, though the rumors of her spitting on Rutger's shoes and prancing merrily away to Konohana hand in hand with Ina was an overblown lie spun by our bitter mayor. Ash said she'd more-or-less been dragged away by the stronger willed of the two mayors which was much more believable now seeing her in person. She probably didn't weigh any more than a child.

I leaned back on the counter as Laney came to stand beside me finally too tired to deal with her father's exuberance any longer. "She's cute, don't you think?" she mused taking the fresh cookie from my hand and putting it away. "You'll get fat."

I frowned and shrugged. "It's not like I'm trying to get anyone's attention. What difference does it make if I gain weight?"

Her expression fell. I regretted whatever I had said that made it that way... surely now I'd have trouble getting her to make me some milk tea before bed. From the stove Howard turned to give me a look and beckoned me over.

"Alright sweetie, I've really got to get those deliveries of yours to the mayor so Cam will be taking good care of you." The intensity of the next face he shot me with was all but enough to knock me backwards in severity. I held up my hands in defense stiffing in case he smacked me again as he walked by my shoulder again, he and Laney leaving the cafe to make the drop.

From what I'd heard, her name was Lillian and she was a kind-hearted person as well as a doormat. She was constantly trying to help people to the point that she couldn't say no and was prone to fainting often from taking on too much work. Many people in Bluebell spoke well of her, and those who didn't, I guessed, thought of her as nothing.

So of course when she slumped sideways on the stool and I had to jump into action to keep her from bashing into the hard wood floors, I wasn't too surprised. "What a foolish girl," I found myself saying as I held her limp shoulders at arms length. This was irritating. Now I would have to think of something to prop her up with. I certainly wasn't going to be caught dead carrying some strange girl to Laney's room.

That was about the time that the cafe doors came crashing inward and I whipped my head around to see a strange man with white hair and glasses who'd kicked it in. He was solemn and called out sternly, "The girl, give her to me and we'll have no qualms."

My mouth dropped open as the frosty winter air came pummeling into me like a wall of bricks. The man swept forward his light jacket whipping around him as he easily pulled Lillian from my hesitant grasp and disappeared into the blizzard outside leaving me to gape like an idiot at what the hell had just occurred.


	2. Cold

"What do you mean a strange man? What'd he look like? Ash was furious, and loud. He'd come stumbling into the cafe that morning when he'd heard the news. "I'll be a real gentleman and break his nose."

I slid a hand down my face. Howard had just about pummeled me into the floor when I had explained the situation last night. "My precious adoptive daughter is kidnapped!" he'd been wailing at the top of his lungs all the while crying like a little girl and shaking me so hard I'm still spinning with a massive migraine this morning. I had always known better than to get on the bad side of a transsexual man, it was a terrifying combination of massive strength and emotional, temperamental feminine qualities.

"That's it then. We're going." Ash declared.

Had I missed something? My eyes shot open to stare at the farm boy who smelled quite like nasty cow this morning. He had fire in his eyes it was only in one fell swoop he'd taken up arms, well my arm and a slice of cake from Laney who held it out to him smiling and waving a cheery goodbye to me. I had most certainly missed something, I thought as I was drug from the cafe out into the freshly laid snow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I growled to this person who was supposed to be my friend. He stopped and turned to face me with the most determined expression I'd ever seen him wear.

"Seeing as it is your fault and all, _we_ are going to save Lillian."

All I could manage to do was stare blankly at him. What what he thinking? The guy we were going up against actually kicked in a solid wood door! The freakin' hinges were broken off man! "Uh no."

"Hey wait!" Nope. I'm walking away from this one. "Cam, it's your responsibility!" Yeah, screw that. I'm not about to go chase some guy down only to get my ass kicked, or possibly killed. This guy was superhuman not to mention psycho because really, who says 'give me the girl' like that anyway? Who even kidnaps someone if they aren't crazy?

"Alright, but you pushed me to it," his voice sounded distant behind me and that's when the little bastard hit me in the head with a rock.

I fell to the ground instantly curling up holding my head. "Fffff! Ash you ASSHOLE!"

His hand wrapped around my leg and the next thing I knew he was dragging me out of the town gates. "What? No! Ah, dammit that hurts!"

xxx

The trip went about like that for a while. I didn't know he'd had it in him to drag me out so far, and uphill too as it seems that was the only place the kidnapper could have gone to. Of course once we got to the bridge I managed to squirm around enough to make him loose his balance and fall into the icy creek. That's what he gets. Then dripping wet and irritable, he somehow managed to pull me in too. Of course that didn't make things any easier.

"If things keep going this way we're never going to catch up to him." Ash mumbled ringing out his hat. We were both freezing now if we weren't before, go figure being that it was the middle of winter.

I snorted. "If things keep going this way, I'm going to kill you."

He eyed me warily but stood his ground. "You wouldn't be so bitter if you took the time to get to know her you know." He rubbed his hands together trying to warm them. "She's a great person. Maybe the guy who kidnapped her is her stalker?"

And he kept going, but by this point I had tuned his blabbering out. It was cold, we were wet, and if we couldn't go back to town then we were going to have to find some shelter until our clothes dried out or we weren't going to do too well.

That was the point when I realized he'd stopped talking.

"What is it?" I asked catching him staring at me.

He frowned. "You haven't been listening at all."

My brow twitched. You just now noticed? I turned away choosing to look out at the bland white sceneary than invite him to nag me. This journey was going to be long, arduous, and irritating. I might as well accept that since it seemed I couldn't back out now. Though, looking out I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

There weren't any flowers this time of year.


	3. Melt

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back at the ranch…<p>

Kana was flabbergasted. The poor man had volunteered to watch after Lillian's farm as he lived the nearest to it out of everyone else, and this was certainly not what he'd been expecting. A fluttering of wings and beaks and talons, along with an obnoxious amount of squawking greeted him as he entered her barn to feed Jam, her pony.

Chickens, chickens, everywhere. One even came down from the barn rafters to land on his head making an awful "b-gawk" as it did so.

Now somehow that odd far off look the girl got when she'd come to visit his pet store made sense. "I really don't have any room," she had insisted to Scruff, the tiny white kitten who always seemed to wait for her to come by.

The mass of crazed birds all huddled together in the farthest corner of the room from the young man each doing their best to scoot their way into the center of the group so as to attain the warmest spot. The question now, was where had they all come from and just… how?

XXX

If only... if only Cam would get to know her. I glanced sideways at my buddy from where I walked beside him. He still had that apathetic look on his face surely due to the unpleasant thought that I had dragged him along with me at all. Cam was different than others. He took some—well a lot—of warming up to. What the real trick was though, getting Cam to tolerate you. I seemed to have stumbled into our friendship completely by luck seeing as he was even more anti-social as a kid. Hard to believe right? But yeah, he was worse.

My stomach growled and violet eyes turned to glare accusingly at me. I shrank back a little despite myself. Yeah, he was definitely mad. I wanted to apologize, to tell him it was because I was so used to waking up every morning to breakfast laid out on the dining table, but I knew better. It was better not to talk this early in the morning. Cam had low blood-pressure.

"What is it?"

I jumped at the sound of his voice, deep and slow with sleep. I looked over at him in question. What the heck was he talking about? Cam rolled his eyes and stopped to stare at me as though I was an idiot, which I was sure crossed his mind at that time. "What's so great about this girl? Why the hell am I up at five in the morning marching up some mountain path to retrieve a girl I don't even know? Why Ash?"

I halted turning around to face him bewilderment obvious on my face. Did he really just say that much this early? I shook my head realizing the long I made him wait for an answer the more upset he would be. Blush colored my cheeks as I thought of my answer. Lillian was worth it because she was kind-hearted and a beautiful person, although I knew what my own personal reasons were. "Because I love her." Did I seriously just tell Cam that?

And when I brought my eyes up to meet his, deciding conviction would look better than otherwise, that jerk had on the same flat expression as before. Did he not have any compassion? Did it not matter that the girl I was in love with got kidnapped while in his care? Did he not feel even a little bit guilty?

Give the man a kitten or a flower an he'd melt into another person, but it seemed toward anything and anyone else he was a cold-hearted bastard.

XXX

It wasn't until a kicked puppy look crossed over Ash's face and though I might have been mistaken, irritation, and he'd turned an marched off into the distance that what he had said registered in my head. Mostly I think it was shock more so than the fact I was still sluggish from waking up so damned early. I'd never really thought that Ash would ever be interested in women. I don't know why really, but it had never crossed my mind. Maybe because I had never met any girl who sparked my interest. They were all so bland. Not to mention everyone in town thought that he and Georgia... well it was obvious she liked him anyway. Every time they were together she'd act indifferent, but as soon as his back was turned she'd turn into a mess of pink cheeks and her confidence would crack.

But the more it sunk in the more a strange pain developed in my chest. Was it envy? Did I feel left out because he was moving forward and maybe I should be also? No. It was definitely jealousy. My friend was in love. My one real friend had someone he found important enough to risk his life to get back and it wasn't me he was trudging up this mountain for. My jaw set and I glared up the path at the place where Ash had disappeared only a second before. This was all because he was so open to people, He loved too freely. Why did he have to be such an easy-going bastard?

By the time I'd caught back up with him the sun was peaking up over the tops of the frosty leaves all around us. "Fine," I muttered watching in satisfaction as he flinched not knowing I was there, "let's go then."

Even though I didn't let him know I could see the shocked elation that spread over his face from the corner of my eye as I passed him. Something inside of me felt warmer and it was easier after that for the two of us to run eagerly up the trail into the morning with determination.


End file.
